I’ve been singing the praises of Brother O’ Brother’s stripped-down raw sound since I first heard them dominate the Birdy’s Battle Royale in 2015. With Chris Banta at the helm on vocals and guitar, frantically dominating the stage at every show with the manic energy of a punk-rock evangelist, it is impossible to see a show of theirs and not come away converted.

I was reading thatan article from a couple months ago looked to predict which long-awaited albums from national acts was likely to propel them back into the mainstream spotlight. Heavily focused on the likes of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Spoon and Granddaddy, bands which have ridden the wave of 90s nostalgia to find new audiences in an age where the cyclical music trends are realigning with the music of two decades past, the article got me thinking. Which Indianapolis band’s new album seems most destined to propel them into the national spotlight?

The answer was easy: Brother O’ Brother’sNeon Native, which will be released this May, is already making national waves witha prime feature via the Huffington Post, and the band has been steadily working the touring circuit over the last two years, earning more than $20,000 on vinyl sales last year thanks to Banta and drummer Warner Swopes’ single-minded dedication to ensuring audiences connect with the music.

But there is something about Neon Native which goes above and beyond the expected. It is an assured follow-up to an album which already clearly defined their sound on wax. With Show Pony in the rearview, the band is capable now of expanding their sound while managing to come closer than ever to capturing the raw sound of one of their live shows on record. Three albums into their career, Brother O’ Brother is at that point where they can play a few local shows to a packed house, while spending 150+ days on the road nationally doing the same thing. And everywhere in their wake they leave an audience beaten raw by their furious sound, desperate to find a way to experience it again and again.

It is a visceral experience, and the fact that they’ve come closer than ever to capturing that effect on Neon Native leaves me feeling confident in my prediction that, by this time next year, Brother O’ Brother will be more than “a local Indianapolis band to watch.”

They’ll be pushing the envelope nationally, building buzz as a band willing to take risks and embrace challenges as they in turn drive their audiences to accept a more personal role in what it means to truly appreciate music.